Area book success

Hello again everyone!

Sorry I'm a bit late again this week but still
wanted to make sure that I updated you on the happenings here in
Lübeck.

We had a solid lesson on Tuesday with Rex, the man that wants to be
baptized but his children are against it. We had given him Mosiah 4 to
read in the Book of Mormon and to consider how he could strengthen his
family relationships. We also gave him The Proclamation: The Family for
a reading assignment.

Here is Brother Imanuel and Apfelkompott (apple sauce so thick the spoon
stands up!!

Here is a random WWII truck parked outside the church:

This is a the Kücknitz neighborhood we work in often:

This past week we took a lot of time to visit people that had met with
the missionaries in the past or old contacts that missionaries had
written down. We saw a lot of success from it! Well, we got in contact
with a lot of the people and had some really good conversations. Some
even let us in and we were able to have a good gospel discussion. On
Wednesday we got in touch with a family that was super nice and told
us that we could come back whenever we wanted. Having these people to
go by is nice because it gives you direction but I've found on the
mission that the most success comes from the people you talk to on the
street in between the old contacts. For example, that's how we met
Angelica in Marzahn. We met a guy on the street on Wednesday that was
super nice and invited us over to share with him the Book of Mormon.
We're going by again at the end of this week to teach him about the
Restoration. Wednesday we taught a German class again to the two
Afghans that normally come.

Sunrise on Sunday:

 Here's the resort Travemünde and the Baltic Sea:

Thursday we had our usual lesson with Br Goltz. We set a baptismal
date with him for the 26th of March! He is super excited and of course
we are too. He had studied 3 Nephi 11 this past week and basically
gave us a lesson on it. It was beautiful. We went to Oldenburg
afterwards to visit a guy that Elder Hein and I had found about a
transfer ago. Long story short, the guy told us that he is the second
coming of Jesus Christ. We will not be going back there. On the train
ride back, I finally got ahold of a man that Elder Jensen had met with
a couple of times but ever since I've been here, we've never met with
him. Elder Jensen told me that the guy wanted to be baptized and that
we would invite him the next time we met but that next time never
came. So I talked to him on the phone for awhile and it was weird. He
was talking about reincarnation and what a philosopher has said and
has written. I was really confused. I asked him if he had
read in the Book of Mormon and prayed about and he said no
so I invited him to do that and bore testimony.  So hopefully we will be
able to meet again.

 

Friday we met with Amir, who was baptized in September, and we
recapped the law of chastity. Afterwards we went to Travemünde which
is the northernmost part of Lübeck. It's actually a resort area so
it's super nice. We visited a family that had met with the
missionaries once in the past and they were super! They invited us
back so we are ready to go there Thursday evening.

Saturday we had the normal Farsi speakers lesson. It went really well.
Now two of them bring notebooks in which they have taken notes about
what they have studied in the Book of Mormon. They want to be
baptized! Unfortunately, they need to wait until they have permanent
residency here.

I've been racing through the New Testament and I find it so
interesting how much the apostles prophesied about the Apostasy. Paul
wrote all about it in First and Second Thessalonians, as well as about
the second coming of Christ, which we all should be preparing for! And
what's wonderful is, the priesthood will never leave the earth again.

Have a great week!

Elder Tanner Germann

February is upon us!

Hi all,

This week was a better week because we did a lot of finding. We also went through the area book and plotted everyone there in our iPads. We found a lot of success including a super nice family that we are meeting with on Thursday. We also found one man on the street who we should be meeting with tonight. One investigator who is struggling with drugs showed up to church.  He starts a job today and has been clean for a couple of days.  We committed Goltz to baptism Easter weekend. This area book is well organized now.  I really think that that shows a lot about a missionary--how clean it is, up to date, etc.

Currently in my study I'm racing through the new testament.  I'm in Thessalonians. On the 9th, I'll stop where ever I am and begin Doctrine and Covenants. I did the math and that will mean that I will get through it reading one section a day until I fly home in June. At the same time, the goal is to start and finish the book of Mormon again.

Shorter letter today but lots of pics!  Here's a furniture store owned by some of our relatives no doubt!

 We had district meeting this week--everyone is happy and working hard!

 Still have an eye for the ladies...nice cars that is!  Saw this GT-R this week:

 This ice rink popped up during the holidays here in Lubeck:

 These are like funnel cakes but little balls--they keep us going!

 At the rink--no skating for the missionaries though!

Love you!

Elder Germann

Third round in Lübeck

Hello family and friends! How's everyone doing? Just wanted to report
on the events of the last week! I'm staying in Lübeck here for another
transfer!

Monday I did the fitness test for my reapplication to the Air Force Academy.
Of course I didn't do so great on it but I think I've kept myself in
good enough shape to do satisfactorily. It was below freezing
temperatures all week so doing the test in that was not so much fun.

Here's a picture of my former companion and a recent baptism in my last
area.  So happy for him!

I had reported to you that we had invited a man to live like a Mormon
for four weeks and if he saw good fruits from it, we invited him to be
baptized at the end of it. We went and saw him last week and he was
waiting for us outside. I knew that meant bad news. His children
forbade him from joining the church. He had told his family that he
wanted to be baptized and they reacted negatively. Thats not the
normal situation we're used to--old man being forbade by his children.
Problem is the family knows nothing about religion let alone about the
church. He wants us to speak to his family but they aren't willing to.
We had a good lesson with him this week. We invited him to live like a
Mormon anyway. His family is bound to notice a change for the better
if he lives like that.

Friday we had district meeting. Elder Stott and Sister Hammer came
with their trainees. Gosh it's been awhile since I've heard trainee
German! I gave a short lesson out of the white handbook on how we
should conduct ourselves during meetings, etc. we had a dinner
appointment that afternoon and then two lessons that evening, one with
our friend that was supposed to be baptized this past week. He's been
going AWOL and has taken a few steps backwards. Kinda doubting things
but he knows he can't deny the spirit that he's already felt. We're
praying hard for him.

Here's my favorite chocolate..with kittens?

Class with the Persian speakers went super well. One of them took
lots of notes on the chapters we gave them to read. We really have to
move slow with them. But the translating during sacrament meeting is
really helping. They're starting to tie things together that they hear
during church.

I was asked short notice to speak during sacrament meeting. I gave a
talk on our attitude during the sacrament and how we should conduct
ourselves. I used the example of Joseph Smith when he prayed to find
out his standing before the Lord. The Apostle Paul taught that the
sacrament is to be a self examination. I thought it went well. Didn't
use any notes, just spoke to the few scriptures that I picked out.

I wish everyone a great week!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Happy 27th anniversary to my parents!!!

Moin moin! Hope everyone can look back on this past week and say that
it was a good one. We had a pretty solid week here so if you didn't,
maybe reading about mine will make it better.  I got to go to the Hans
Museum with the tickets we got for Christmas--it's beautiful and full of electronic
and hologram displays: 

Tuesday morning we had zone training meeting in Kiel. Elder Peatross
and I gave a lesson on retaining new converts. We focused on using
family history work to do that. We got the other missionaries involved 
and were able to share different experiences we've had with that. Here's
a picture of me and Elder Hein:

After the meeting we rode a train to Eutin for an appointment with the other man
that had referred himself a few weeks back. It fell through....
Getting back in touch with him is going to really hard because he lives
way up on the north side of our area, 35 minutes away by train. We
went by again on Thursday but I'm pretty sure he's out of town. His
mailbox is full. His crazy neighbor came out and talked our ear off
forever. The man was dead serious when he told us that the reincarnation
of Jesus is a male model in New York.

Our appointment with our old English teacher friend went fantastically
that evening. We read Alma 32 together about faith being like a seed.
After we had read and discussed it he said that what the Book of
Mormon says is true. We then invited him to try the experiment out for
himself. We invited him to live like a Mormon for four weeks and if at
the end he sees that the fruits are good, we invited him to be baptized 
on the 6th of February. He accepted! But he didn't end up coming to church
on Sunday.

We had a super good lesson with Br Goltz on Thursday. We talked about
baptisms for the dead. We had a breakthrough: he's been under the
impression that he needs to have his family history done before his
baptism so that he can be baptized for himself and his ancestors all
at once. We explained that that's actually not how it happens and that
the baptisms in the temple are proxy baptisms and you can always go
back with more names of ancestors

Here are some pictures from around town including me in front of one of
the many gardens our neighbors have.  Germans love to grow their own
produce and are proud of their gardens.

Friday, I got to bear strong testimony of Moroni's promise at the end
of the Book of Mormon. Kind of hard explaining that to someone raised
in India in a Hindu home but is atheist. It's really just a classic
if-then statement; a hypothesis. If we ask God (having a sincere
heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ), then we can know the
truth of all things.

Saturday was a good day. We had the bishop join us to visit
a 22 year old member that hasn't been to church since he was a kid. We
read and discussed Moroni's promise. He was asking all of the right
questions and I think he wants to find out if the Church is true.  We also
got back in touch with our friend! The one that referred himself and
is supposed to be getting baptized on the 23rd! We thought we had lost
him this week but turns out he decided to basically abandon his old
life. He left his apartment, shaved his beard and got a job. He came
and sat in on our lesson with the Farsi speakers, a
baptism, and a tour that we gave Br Goltz of the family history center. The
lesson with the Farsi speakers was solid. We had to go over the
beginning of the plan of salvation again. I guess we really gotta go
slowly because of the translation and that this is a totally new world. All
five of them stayed for the baptism. Family History center tour went well.
Unfortunately no member could come and help but I would also like to know
what I'm doing in there.  We gave Br Goltz the institute Book of
Mormon manual afterwards which got him excited out of his mind.

So last night we finally got to sit down and have a lesson
with our friend that we thought we lost this past week. There is a
stark contrast between now and when we met him. He looks happier, he
talks more. He said he knows that the Book of Mormon and prayer have
helped him and he knows that God is there. He has had some cool
experiences where he's said a prayer and then just opened the Book of
Mormon to a random page and he's found the guidance he needs right
there on the page. It's brought him out of his depression. But now
that he's out, he said that its like a battle in his mind--he knows
what's right and what's wrong, it's just hard to choose the right. Good
thing we decided to talk about the blessings of the Holy Ghost. I
really feel like I spoke with the Spirit tonight because I said
something, totally didn't plan it/know what I was going to say
beforehand (something about why we set goals, why we set baptismal
dates, washing away our sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost)
and as soon as I said it he said, "We said the 23rd, right? Lets
solidify that. I'm going to make it." I was blown away. My first
thought was, that was totally the Spirit because I didn't do that.

Love you!

Elder Tanner Germann

First week of 2016

Hey y'all! Hope everyone had a great New Years.

Mine here was pretty loud. The Germans really turn out for the new
year. Basically fireworks start about sunset and go to
about noon the next day. The night of the 31st people were
just walking around throwing/shooting fireworks at each other.  It 
sounded like a war zone and the city was all lit up.  Here are some sights
and sounds from the city over the holidays--check out the food!!!

New Year's Day we had a Zone activity in Kiel where we went jogging
together and then had a game of ultimate frisbee.

We had a great turn out for a lesson on Saturday. We decided that it
would be more time efficient to have a class for all of our Persian
speaking friends rather than try to meet with them individually.  That way,
their friend and new member Mehrdad would also not. We had five people
be run ragged!  Come on Saturday and then on Sunday we had five
in sacrament meeting.  We had the translation headsets out and I translated 
into English for Mehrdad who then translated into Persian for them. Kinda
chaotic but totally worked out.

Here is a picture of my friend and church member Marc; notice also the insert of Marc 
with Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner on a trip to Europe.  Coincidentally, 
Congressman Sensenbrenner just provided me a nomination to return to the 
Air Force Academy--wow!

I really enjoyed reading chapter 15 in First Corinthians this past
week. I'm really thankful for the restoration and that we have the
understanding of the scriptures that we do today. I'm thankful that
our families can be together forever. I'm thankful for the temple!
What would we do without a living prophet on the earth today?

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Man, it was so nice to get the chance to Skype with the family on
Christmas! Can't believe that I will only be doing that one more time, on Mother's Day,
before I go home.  Here's what I saw on Christmas--love that nephew, Isaac!!!

We had solid dinner appointments all three days of Christmas including
a visit from the Weihnachtsman (Santa)! In order to get gifts from the
Weihnachtsman, you have to sing a song or recite a poem so naturally
we sang Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The Weihnachtsman gave us
tickets to the Hanse Museum here in town. I've been wanting to go
there so I'm excited to check it out.

We had an appointment on Sunday evening with our friend who is
preparing for baptism. We took the elders quorum president along and
he was a big help. We taught the code of health, or word of wisdom, since that's been
something he's wanted to learn about and something we need to work on
with him. Everything's still going well. We're really blessed to be
able to teach him.

Happy new year everybody! Can't believe I didn't set foot on American
soil all of 2015!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Merry Christmas, one and all!!!

A big Merry Christmas to one and all from me here in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany!

I'm writing on Wednesday because we did a mini-mission Sunday through Tuesday with some young men from the neighboring ward. They came and stayed with us and then we took them out proselyting--two different companionships working in the city. It was a lot of fun and it made me wish I had done something like that before the mission to get a real taste of what missionary life is like. I feel like I've had the baptism by fire in my life with the Air Force Academy and then the mission. The lifestyles are just not really normal life. So those young men I think have a super advantage. Both also had done a cultural exchange year in the states--one went to Orem, UT and the other was in The Woodlands, TX

We went caroling this evening with some members of the ward. Well it wasn't true caroling--we stood in the middle of the Christmas market and just sang Christmas hymns. I am going to miss the Christmas atmosphere in Germany. Its very traditional and the Christmas markets are super cool. Not to mention Germans have really three days in total for Christmas. I am excited to be able to talk to my fam on Friday!  I got my package from them--loved everything!!!

This past week has been full of miracles and great experiences. We invited the 23 year-old who referred himself last week on the church website to baptism and he accepted. The goal is the 23rd of January!!

Another man referred himself last Friday from the church website as well. We went by and he said he has been searching for the truth. He remembered having a Mormon friend during his time in the military and decided to look more into it. We are going to meet after the new year. Two media referrals within two weeks is unheard of, let alone having them both be legitimately interested.

Last Wednesday we had chosen a few old investigators from the area book to go see. One of them was a man who had met with the missionaries over ten years ago. He wasn't home when we went by so we left a little note in his mailbox. Sunday morning we woke up to another email saying he had referred himself on the church website as well. Whaaaaat. I met with him on Monday with my mini missionary. He was very humble and said he really wants to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. 

Church attendance still seems to be good. Hesam's two Afghan friends continue to come and Mehrdad brought a new friend that is super interested. We taught him the first lesson this week and he really liked it. Also, what's really exciting is that the church just this month came out with an update to the Book of Mormon in Persian. First update since 1985. This new translation now has the whole Book of Mormon and its supposed to be translated into more understandable Persian.

Super cool!!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann